Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Research Institute in Biomedical and Health Sciences (IUIBS), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
Curr Pharm Des. 2018;24(36):4355-4361. doi: 10.2174/1381612825666190119114323.
Sesquiterpene lactones are naturally occurring compounds that have attracted considerable attention because to their vast array of biological activities. These plant-derived compounds contain the α-methylene-γ- butyrolactone functional group, which is the structural requirement for their pharmacological activities. Many of them exhibit cancer cell cytotoxicity and are promising anticancer agents through multiple mechanisms of action. Sesquiterpene lactones are alkylating agents that form covalent adducts in vivo and inhibit enzymes and key proteins. They are also potent apoptotic inducers in several cancer cells. This kind of cell death is recognized as a property that is useful for identifying anticancer drugs. This review focuses on the advances on cytotoxic sesquiterpene lactones and specifically the signal transduction pathways of cell death triggered in cancer cells.
倍半萜内酯是天然存在的化合物，由于其广泛的生物活性而引起了相当大的关注。这些植物来源的化合物含有α-亚甲基-γ-丁内酯官能团，这是它们药理活性的结构要求。它们中的许多具有癌细胞细胞毒性，并通过多种作用机制成为有前途的抗癌药物。倍半萜内酯是烷化剂，在体内形成共价加合物并抑制酶和关键蛋白。它们也是几种癌细胞中有效的凋亡诱导剂。这种细胞死亡被认为是识别抗癌药物有用的特性。本综述重点介绍了具有细胞毒性的倍半萜内酯的最新进展，特别是在癌细胞中触发的细胞死亡信号转导途径。
